42 C.F.R. Subpart G—Payment for Hospice Care
Title 42 - Public Health
(a) Medicare payment for covered hospice care is made in accordance with the method set forth in §418.302. (b) Medicare reimbursement to a hospice in a cap period is limited to a cap amount specified in §418.309. (c) The hospice may not charge a patient for services for which the patient is entitled to have payment made under Medicare or for services for which the patient would be entitled to payment, as described in §489.21 of this chapter. [48 FR 56026, Dec. 16, 1983, as amended at 56 FR 26919, June 12, 1991; 70 FR 70547, Nov. 22, 2005] (a) CMS establishes payment amounts for specific categories of covered hospice care. (b) Payment amounts are determined within each of the following categories: (1) Routine home care day. A routine home care day is a day on which an individual who has elected to receive hospice care is at home and is not receiving continuous care as defined in paragraph (b)(2) of this section. (2) Continuous home care day. A continuous home care day is a day on which an individual who has elected to receive hospice care is not in an inpatient facility and receives hospice care consisting predominantly of nursing care on a continuous basis at home. Home health aide or homemaker services or both may also be provided on a continuous basis. Continuous home care is only furnished during brief periods of crisis as described in §418.204(a) and only as necessary to maintain the terminally ill patient at home. (3) Inpatient respite care day. An inpatient respite care day is a day on which the individual who has elected hospice care receives care in an approved facility on a short-term basis for respite. (4) General inpatient care day. A general inpatient care day is a day on which an individual who has elected hospice care receives general inpatient care in an inpatient facility for pain control or acute or chronic symptom management which cannot be managed in other settings. (c) The payment amounts for the categories of hospice care are fixed payment rates that are established by CMS in accordance with the procedures described in §418.306. Payment rates are determined for the following categories: (1) Routine home care. (2) Continuous home care. (3) Inpatient respite care. (4) General inpatient care. (d)(1) The intermediary reimburses the hospice its appropriate payment amount for each day for which an eligible Medicare beneficiary is under the hospice's care. (2) Effective December 8, 2003, if a hospice makes arrangements with another hospice to provide services under the circumstances specified in section 1861(dd)(5)(D) of the Act, the intermediary reimburses the hospice for which the beneficiary has made an election as described in paragraph (d)(1) of this section. (e) The intermediary makes payment according to the following procedures: (1) Payment is made to the hospice for each day during which the beneficiary is eligible and under the care of the hospice, regardless of the amount of services furnished on any given day. (2) Payment is made for only one of the categories of hospice care described in §418.302(b) for any particular day. (3) On any day on which the beneficiary is not an inpatient, the hospice is paid the routine home care rate, unless the patient receives continuous care as defined in paragraph (b)(2) of this section for a period of at least 8 hours. In that case, a portion of the continuous care day rate is paid in accordance with paragraph (e)(4) of this section. (4) The hospice payment on a continuous care day varies depending on the number of hours of continuous services provided. The continuous home care rate is divided by 24 to yield an hourly rate. The number of hours of continuous care provided during a continuous home care day is then multiplied by the hourly rate to yield the continuous home care payment for that day. A minimum of 8 hours of care must be furnished on a particular day to qualify for the continuous home care rate. (5) Subject to the limitations described in paragraph (f) of this section, on any day on which the beneficiary is an inpatient in an approved facility for inpatient care, the appropriate inpatient rate (general or respite) is paid depending on the category of care furnished. The inpatient rate (general or respite) is paid for the date of admission and all subsequent inpatient days, except the day on which the patient is discharged. For the day of discharge, the appropriate home care rate is paid unless the patient dies as an inpatient. In the case where the beneficiary is discharged deceased, the inpatient rate (general or respite) is paid for the discharge day. Payment for inpatient respite care is subject to the requirement that it may not be provided consecutively for more than 5 days at a time. Payment for the sixth and any subsequent day of respite care is made at the routine home care rate. (f) Payment for inpatient care is limited as follows: (1) The total payment to the hospice for inpatient care (general or respite) is subject to a limitation that total inpatient care days for Medicare patients not exceed 20 percent of the total days for which these patients had elected hospice care. (2) At the end of a cap period, the intermediary calculates a limitation on payment for inpatient care to ensure that Medicare payment is not made for days of inpatient care in excess of 20 percent of the total number of days of hospice care furnished to Medicare patients. (3) If the number of days of inpatient care furnished to Medicare patients is equal to or less than 20 percent of the total days of hospice care to Medicare patients, no adjustment is necessary. Overall payments to a hospice are subject to the cap amount specified in §418.309. (4) If the number of days of inpatient care furnished to Medicare patients exceeds 20 percent of the total days of hospice care to Medicare patients, the total payment for inpatient care is determined in accordance with the procedures specified in paragraph (f)(5) of this section. That amount is compared to actual payments for inpatient care, and any excess reimbursement must be refunded by the hospice. Overall payments to the hospice are subject to the cap amount specified in §418.309. (5) If a hospice exceeds the number of inpatient care days described in paragraph (f)(4), the total payment for inpatient care is determined as follows: (i) Calculate the ratio of the maximum number of allowable inpatient days to the actual number of inpatient care days furnished by the hospice to Medicare patients. (ii) Multiply this ratio by the total reimbursement for inpatient care made by the intermediary. (iii) Multiply the number of actual inpatient days in excess of the limitation by the routine home care rate. (iv) Add the amounts calculated in paragraphs (f)(5)(ii) and (iii) of this section. (g) Payment for routine home care and continuous home care is made on the basis of the geographic location where the service is provided. [48 FR 56026, Dec. 16, 1983, as amended at 56 FR 26919, June 12, 1991; 70 FR 45145, Aug. 4, 2005; 70 FR 70547, Nov. 22, 2005] (a) The following services performed by hospice physicians and nurse practitioners are included in the rates described in §418.302: (1) General supervisory services of the medical director. (2) Participation in the establishment of plans of care, supervision of care and services, periodic review and updating of plans of care, and establishment of governing policies by the physician member of the interdisciplinary group. (b) For services not described in paragraph (a) of this section, a specified Medicare contractor pays the hospice an amount equivalent to 100 percent of the physician fee schedule for those physician services furnished by hospice employees or under arrangements with the hospice. Reimbursement for these physician services is included in the amount subject to the hospice payment limit described in §418.309. Services furnished voluntarily by physicians are not reimbursable. (c) Services of the patient's attending physician, if he or she is not an employee of the hospice or providing services under arrangements with the hospice, are not considered hospice services and are not included in the amount subject to the hospice payment limit described in §418.309. These services are paid by the carrier under the procedures in subpart B, part 414 of this chapter. (d) Payment for hospice pre-election evaluation and counseling services. The intermediary makes payment to the hospice for the services established in §418.205. Payment for this service is set at an amount established under the physician fee schedule, for an office or other outpatient visit for evaluation and management associated with presenting problems of moderate severity and requiring medical decision-making of low complexity other than the portion of the amount attributable to the practice expense component. Payment for this pre-election service does not count towards the hospice cap amount. (e)(1) Effective December 8, 2003, Medicare pays for attending physician services provided by nurse practitioners to Medicare beneficiaries who have elected the hospice benefit and who have selected a nurse practitioner as their attending physician. This applies to nurse practitioners without regard to whether they are hospice employees. (2) Nurse practitioners may bill and receive payment for services only if the— (i) Nurse practitioner is the beneficiary's attending physician as defined in §418.3; (ii) Services are medically reasonable and necessary; (iii) Services are performed by a physician in the absence of the nurse practitioner; and (iv) Services are not related to the certification of terminal illness specified in §418.22. (3) Payment for nurse practitioner services are made at 85 percent of the physician fee schedule amount. [48 FR 56026, Dec. 16, 1983, as amended at 69 FR 66426, Nov. 15, 2004; 70 FR 45145, Aug. 4, 2005; 70 FR 70548, Nov. 22, 2005] (a) Applicability. CMS establishes payment rates for each of the categories of hospice care described in §418.302(b). The rates are established using the methodology described in section 1814(i)(1)(C) of the Act. (b) Payment rates. The payment rates for routine home care and other services included in hospice care are as follows: (1) The following rates, which are 120 percent of the rates in effect on September 30, 1989, are effective January 1, 1990 through September 30, 1990 and October 21, 1990 through December 31, 1990: (2) Except for the period beginning October 21, 1990, through December 31, 1990, the payment rates for routine home care and other services included in hospice care for Federal fiscal years 1991, 1992, and 1993 and those that begin on or after October 1, 1997, are the payment rates in effect under this paragraph during the previous fiscal year increased by the market basket percentage increase as defined in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii) of the Act, otherwise applicable to discharges occurring in the fiscal year. The payment rates for the period beginning October 21, 1990, through December 31, 1990, are the same as those shown in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. (3) For Federal fiscal years 1994 through 2002, the payment rate is the payment rate in effect during the previous fiscal year increased by a factor equal to the market basket percentage increase minus— (i) 2 percentage points in FY 1994; (ii) 1.5 percentage points in FYs 1995 and 1996; (iii) 0.5 percentage points in FY 1997; and (iv) 1 percentage point in FY 1998 through FY 2002. (4) For Federal fiscal year 2001, the payment rate is the payment rate in effect during the previous fiscal year increased by a factor equal to the market basket percentage increase plus 5 percentage points. However, this payment rate is effective only for the period April 1, 2001 through September 30, 2001. For the period October 1, 2000 through March 31, 2001, the payment rate is based upon the rule under paragraph (b)(3)(iv) of this section. The payment rate in effect during the period April 1, 2001 through September 30, 2001 is considered the payment rate in effect during fiscal year 2001. (5) The payment rate for hospice services furnished during fiscal years 2001 and 2002 is increased by an additional 0.5 percent and 0.75 percent, respectively. This additional amount is not included in updating the payment rate as described in paragraph (b)(3) of this section. (c) Adjustment for wage differences. CMS will issue annually, in the (d) Federal Register notices. CMS publishes as a notice in the [56 FR 26919, June 12, 1991, as amended at 59 FR 26960, May 25, 1994; 62 FR 42882, Aug. 8, 1997; 70 FR 70548, Nov. 22, 2005] Subject to the provisions of §413.64(h) of this chapter, a hospice may elect to receive periodic interim payments (PIP) effective with claims received on or after July 1, 1987. Payment is made biweekly under the PIP method unless the hospice requests a longer fixed interval (not to exceed one month) between payments. The biweekly interim payment amount is based on the total estimated Medicare payments for the reporting period (as described in §§418.302–418.306). Each payment is made 2 weeks after the end of a biweekly period of service as described in §413.64(h)(5) of this chapter. Under certain circumstances that are described in §413.64(g) of this chapter, a hospice that is not receiving PIP may request an accelerated payment. [59 FR 36713, July 19, 1994] (a) Except as specified in paragraph (b) of this section, the total Medicare payment to a hospice for care furnished during a cap period is limited by the hospice cap amount specified in §418.309. (b) Until October 1, 1986, payment to a hospice that began operation before January 1, 1975 is not limited by the amount of the hospice cap specified in §418.309. (c) The intermediary notifies the hospice of the determination of program reimbursement at the end of the cap year in accordance with procedures similar to those described in §405.1803 of this chapter. (d) Payments made to a hospice during a cap period that exceed the cap amount are overpayments and must be refunded. [48 FR 56026, Dec. 16, 1983; 48 FR 57282, Dec. 29, 1983] The hospice cap amount is calculated using the following procedures: (a) The cap amount is $6,500 per year and is adjusted for inflation or deflation for cap years that end after October 1, 1984, by using the percentage change in the medical care expenditure category of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban consumers that is published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This adjustment is made using the change in the CPI from March 1984 to the fifth month of the cap year. The cap year runs from November 1 of each year until October 31 of the following year. (b) Each hospice's cap amount is calculated by the intermediary by multiplying the adjusted cap amount determined in paragraph (a) of this section by the number of Medicare beneficiaries who elected to receive hospice care from that hospice during the cap period. For purposes of this calculation, the number of Medicare beneficiaries includes— (1) Those Medicare beneficiaries who have not previously been included in the calculation of any hospice cap and who have filed an election to receive hospice care, in accordance with §418.24, from the hospice during the period beginning on September 28 (35 days before the beginning of the cap period) and ending on September 27 (35 days before the end of the cap period). (2) In the case in which a beneficiary has elected to receive care from more than one hospice, each hospice includes in its number of Medicare beneficiaries only that fraction which represents the portion of a patient's total stay in all hospices that was spent in that hospice. (The hospice can obtain this information by contacting the intermediary.) Hospices must provide reports and keep records as the Secretary determines necessary to administer the program. A hospice that believes its payments have not been properly determined in accordance with these regulations may request a review from the intermediary or the Provider Reimbursement Review Board (PRRB) if the amount in controversy is at least $1,000 or $10,000, respectively. In such a case, the procedure in 42 CFR part 405, subpart R, will be followed to the extent that it is applicable. The PRRB, subject to review by the Secretary under §405.1874 of this chapter, shall have the authority to determine the issues raised. The methods and standards for the calculation of the payment rates by CMS are not subject to appeal.
Title 42: Public Health
PART 418—HOSPICE CARE
Subpart G—Payment for Hospice Care
§ 418.301 Basic rules.
§ 418.302 Payment procedures for hospice care.
§ 418.304 Payment for physician and nurse practitioner services.
§ 418.306 Determination of payment rates.
Routine home care $75.80Continuous home care: Full rate for 442.40 24 hours...... Hourly rate.... 18.43Inpatient respite 78.40 careGeneral inpatient 337.20 care
§ 418.307 Periodic interim payments.
§ 418.308 Limitation on the amount of hospice payments.
§ 418.309 Hospice cap amount.
§ 418.310 Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
§ 418.311 Administrative appeals.
